Ground Control Station Design Optimization for Indonesian Operator Work Postures and Muscle Stimulation in Preparing the MALE Class UAV

Abstract

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flies without human on board but its mission must be fully controlled by the man operator on-ground below. Thus, this paper showed adaptation in designing a proper work space for UAV operators to ensure the effectiveness of its aerial mission. A Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) is a class of UAV that often characterized to have a long period of operation time. Preliminary assessment on the ground crews of the UAV found that they are exposed to a critical workload (i.e., push and pull of a heavy tool). To further analyze this problem, a prediction was carried out by creating Digital Human Modeling (DHM) of 5, 82, and 95 percentiles of sample population, and these DHM then analyzed using Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). Six participants were measured to represent anthropometry data based on Standing and Reaching posture. The analysis is referring to several activities, for instance Task-1: lifting gas cans; Task-2:pouring the gas to the generator ; Task-3: swinging the hatch. Total REBA scores for Task-1 at ranging percentiles showed 11 to 12. Task-2 highlights at 5%ile the REBA scored up to 13, and the rest about 11. Task-3 describes the REBA score around 11 at all ranging of percentiles.